Introduction

1. Introduction The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

2. What is Corrections? • Corrections: Functions carried out by agencies having to do with the punishment, treatment, and management of individuals who have been accused of or convicted of criminal offenses. • Also refers to a field of study. • Previously referred to as penology, or the study of punishment. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

3. The Origins of Punishment • Research has indicated that punishment provides emotional relief to the punisher. • Emile Durkheim: • Punishment maintains solidarity and reaffirms the justness of social norms. • Repressive Justice vs. Restitutive Justice • Repressive Justice – Driven by the natural passion for revenge. • Restitutive Justice – Driven by simple deterrence; more humanistic and tolerant. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

4. A Short History of Punishment • Code of Hammurabi (1780 BC): Earliest written code of punishment. • Along with the Mosaic Code, set forth the concept of lex talionis (the law of equal retaliation)—”An eye for an eye...” • These were efforts to stop cycles of revenge, such as blood feuds, which had no clear end-point. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

5. A Short History of Punishment, cont. • Pre-18th Century (Religious Reasoning): Cruel tortures were used; it was seen as a small price to pay for saving sinners’ souls. • 18th Century (Enlightenment): Cruel punishments were left behind, in favor of humanism and rationalism. • 19th Century (Positivism): Focus shifted from the offender as an actor with free will, to identifying the causes of crime through scientific study. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

6. The Emergence of the Classical School • The Enlightenment manifested itself in the classical school of thought. • Cesare Beccaria • Punishment should be proportionate to the harm done, and should be swift and certain to be effective. • Jeremy Bentham • Principle of Utility: “The greatest happiness for the greatest number.” • Designed “panopticon” (all-seeing) design for prisons. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

7. The Emergence of the Classical School, cont. • John Howard • Critical of the bad conditions found in many jails and prisons. • Coined the term penitentiary, intended as a place for penitence and contemplation. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

8. The Emergence of Positivism: Should Punishment Fit the Offender or the Offense? • Early positivism began with a hard deterministic stance on human behavior. • Cesare Lombroso • Espoused the idea of the “born criminal.” • Raffael Garofalo • Punishment should focus on the danger offenders pose to society. “Extreme criminals” should be executed; “impulsive criminals” should be held in penal colonies. • Franz von Liszt • Argued that sentences should be determined by the rehabilitative potential of the offender. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

9. The Objectives of Punishment • Three assumptions: • Hedonism: All life goals are desirable only as an end to achieving pleasure and avoiding pain. • Rationality: “Hedonistic calculus” provides a method by which individuals weigh anticipated costs and benefits of their behavior. • Free Will: Humans can purposely and deliberately choose to follow a calculated course of action. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

10. The Objectives of Punishment, cont. • Retribution: Based on a “just deserts” model which argues that punishment should match the degree of harm criminals have inflicted on their victims. • Deterrence: The prevention of crime by the threat of punishment. • Specific Deterrence: The effect of punishment on the future behavior of the person who experiences it. • Recidivism: Committing further crimes after being punished. • General Deterrence: The preventive effect of the threat of punishment on the general population; aimed at potential offenders. • The effectiveness of deterrence is believed to be reliant on 1) the certainty, swiftness, and severity of the punishment; and 2) the contrast effect. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

11. The Objectives of Punishment, cont. • Incapacitation: Refers to the inability of criminals to victimize the public while they are locked up. • Rehabilitation: Attempts to reduce recidivism by changing offenders so that they accept that their behavior was wrong. • Views criminal offending as a sickness in need of treatment, sometimes in terms of “faulty thinking.” • Reintegration: The goal of preparing offenders to enter the free community as well equipped to do so as possible. • This is a newly recognized goal of our system. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

12. Is the United States Soft on Crime? • China makes greater use of the death penalty than the U.S., • And punishment in many Islamic countries includes corporal punishments for offenses considered minor in the West... • But the U.S. does have the highest known incarceration rate in the world, and is one of the few Western nations to retain the death penalty. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

13. Introduction: Discussion • Discuss the assumptions about human nature held by the classical thinkers. Are we rational, seekers of pleasure, and free moral agents? If so, does it make sense to try to rehabilitate criminals? What about punishment? Is this always carried out in a rational manner? Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

14. Section I History of American Corrections Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

15. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice • The influence of money over correctional policy decisions. • Paying for correctional institutions can be financially ruinous. • Example: In Georgia, it costs $31,675 to build a minimum security bed, and an additional $14,016 to operate it (Georgia Department of Corrections, 2007). Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

16. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice, cont. • An evolving sense of compassion or humanity. • Many correctional practices are aimed at alleviating the miseries of offenders. • The Quakers encouraged offenders’ “‘penitent reflection,’ which could result in their personal reformation” (Conover, 2001, p.173). • Probation was also founded on the goal of reforming offenders. • The Elmira Prison was intended to be focused on rehabilitation. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

17. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice, cont. • The persistent use of labor and technology. • Inmate labor both serves as a component of punishment, and helps offset the expense of incarceration. • In some early prisons, for women in particular, labor was restricted. • Prison labor took three forms: • Individual Labor • Factory Prisons • Convict Contract/Lease System Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

18. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice, cont. • A distinction in experiences by class, race, and gender. • In the middle ages, the well-to-do were able to “pay” for their crimes literally, if at all. • In the 1700s and 1800s, English and Irish jail inmates who could pay were housed in more comfortable quarters (Kerle, 2003; Stohr & Cooper, 2007). • The poor continue to be disadvantaged by the focus on “street crimes” and drug crimes, rather than white collar crime. • Women and African Americans have been treated differently historically, viewed as the property of others. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

19. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice, cont. • A religious influence over forms of punishment. • Historically, the Quakers shaped the focus on reform via contemplation of the Bible, and the desire to isolate offenders from the corrupting influences of others. • Presently, faith-based initiatives are prominent in both the community and corrections (Sipes & Young, 2006). Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

20. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice, cont. • The role of architecture in supervision. • Historically, this is linked to Bentham’s idea of the “panopticon,” which placed a guard station in the center of a rounded prison. • The “New Generation” of jails (Zupan, 1991) entails a podular, or rounded architecture to allow officers to better supervise offenders. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

21. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice, cont. • The issue of overcrowding. • Early prisons tried to maintain proper capacity, but often ended up overcrowded. • The recent explosion of growth has exceeded the speed at which the nation could build new prisons and jails. • This overcrowding has extended to the caseloads of probation and parole officers. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

22. Themes: Truths that Underlie Correctional Practice, cont. • The tendency for good intentions to fail to translate into effective practice. • Policies may be more or less successful based on: • The availability of funding. • The cultural context in which they arise. Corrections: A Text/Reader - Section I - History of American Corrections

23. Section I Readings History of American Corrections

24. Readings • An Historical Outline of the Penitentiary System • The World’s Most Influential Prison: Success or Failure? • “Much and Unfortunately Neglected”: Women in Early and Mid-Nineteenth-Century Prisons

25. An Historical Outline of the Penitentiary System by Gustave de Beaumont and Alexis de Tocqueville • The U.S. system allows for great variation among punitive systems. • Pennsylvania and New York both were active in experimenting with new prison systems. • These were largely based on some combination of isolation and labor. • Ultimately, a model of isolation at night, followed by collective labor during the day, gained popularity. • At this same time, some states began to operate houses of refuge for juvenile offenders.

26. Penitentiary System: Discussion • Discuss the relative benefits and drawbacks of the “Pennsylvania” versus the “New York” models of early prisons. • What did Beaumont and Tocqueville think of them and why? • Which type of prison would you rather work in, or be incarcerated in, and why? Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

27. The World’s Most Influential Prison: Success or Failure? by Norman Johnston • The Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania (also known as “Cherry Hill”) utilized cutting-edge technology and a relatively new design to maintain total separation among its inmates. • In practicality, offenders found ways around this. • Successes: • Relatively secure; improvement in health; reduction in physical punishment; eliminated disorder. • Failures: • Costly; may have resulted in some mental breakdowns; it proved difficult to maintain isolation in practice.

28. Most Influential Prison: Discussion • What made Eastern State Penitentiary different from other prisons of its era? • In what ways did it change how prisons were designed and operated? Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections

29. “Much and Unfortunately Neglected”: Women in Early and Mid-Nineteenth-Century Prisons by Nicole Hahn Rafter • Incarcerated women were only gradually separated from male institutions. • As this gradual separation took place, women were often under-served, due to: • Smaller numbers; • Their assignment to less lucrative work; • The perception of women as particularly depraved offenders; • The perception that they were at the root of sexual misconduct. • Mount Pleasant was the first fully female institution.

30. Women/19th Century Prisons: Discussion • Relate how race, class, and gender have affected the operation of correctional institutions in the past. • Can you think of how they might influence correctional operation these days? Corrections: A Text/Reader - Introduction - The Philosophical and Ideological Underpinnings of Corrections